The Cultural Defense of Nations

A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights

Liav Orgad

Description

Never in human history has so much attention been paid to human movement. Global migration yields demographic shifts of historical significance, profoundly shaking up world politics as has been seen in the refugee crisis, the Brexit referendum, and the 2016 US election.

The Cultural Defense of Nations addresses one of the greatest challenges facing liberalism today: is a liberal state justified in restricting immigration and access to citizenship in order to protect its majority culture? Liberal theorists and human rights advocates recognize the rights of minorities to maintain their unique cultural identity, but assume that majorities have neither a need for similar rights nor a moral ground for defending them. The majority culture, so the argument goes, "can take care of itself." However, with more than 250 million immigrants worldwide, majority groups increasingly seek to protect what they consider to be their national identity. In recent years, liberal democracies have introduced proactive immigration and citizenship policies that are designed to defend the majority culture.

This book shifts the focus from the prevailing discussion of cultural minority rights and, for the first time, addresses the cultural rights of majorities. It proposes a new approach by which liberal democracies can welcome immigrants without fundamentally changing their cultural heritage, forsaking their liberal traditions, or slipping into extreme nationalism.

Disregarding the topic of cultural majority rights is not only theoretically wrong, but also politically unwise. With forms of "majority nationalism" rising and the growing popularity of extreme right-wing parties in the West, the time has come to liberally address contemporary challenges.

The Cultural Defense of Nations

A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights

Liav Orgad

Author Information

Liav Orgad, Head of the Global citizenship Law research group, WZB Berlin

Liav Orgad is the head of the Global Citizenship Law research group at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center; a part-time professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, the European University Institute (EUI); associate professor at the Lauder School of Government, IDC Herzliya; and a member of the Global Young Academy. He is the recipient of the European Research Council Starting Grant. In recent years, Orgad was a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Ethics, a visiting professor at Columbia Law School and FGV Direito Rio, a Marie Curie Fellow at Freie Universität Berlin, a Fulbright Scholar at NYU Law School, and a Jean-Monnet Fellow at the EUI. He specializes in constitutional identity, international jurisprudence, citizenship theory, and global migration.

The Cultural Defense of Nations

A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights

Liav Orgad

Reviews and Awards

"By exploring the ethics of immigration laws, Orgad's work brings original insights to theories on immigration. His views are a step beyond the typical freedom of association argument... Orgad's work suggests that even where there is a right to exclude, this right ought to be constrained so that liberal democracies do not descend into illiberal societies." - Pok Yin S. Chow, Human Rights Law Review

"This is a remarkable book. It makes a significant contribution to work on the management of immigration and diversity, along with the broader discipline of constitutional and liberal theory. It is an instant classic, establishing a clear, yet nuanced, position in the debate about how states are responding - and should respond - to the age of migration." - Robert Schertzer, The Modern Law Review

"The Cultural Defense of Nations is an exceptional work that sounds a timely, provocative and very perceptive alarm about the looming challenges facing liberal democracies across the West... Given the importance of those questions and the thoughtfulness of Orgads answers to them, policy makers of all sorts should make reading this book a top priority." - Daniel Falkiner, LSE Review of Books

"[Orgad] has written an impressive book that deserves a place in the canon of analytical legal and political theory." - Randall Hansen, Verfassungsblog

"With the current unprecedented levels of migration challenging conventional notions of sovereignty and pluralism, Orgad puts his thumb on one of the most pressing issues of our time." - Anna So, New Rambler Review

"This is an important and timely book. It helps both to explain aspects of current European politics such as the rise of populism and David Cameron's repeated appeals to British values and also provides a rigorous guide to what majorities can and cannot do to preserve their culture and way of life...it is an intellectual ice-breaker and will, or should, open up new territory for others to explore." - David Goodhart, Prospect Magazine

"One of the most significant books published in 2015...it is an important and ground-breaking book that addresses a rarely discussed issue...whether majority groups have legitimate rights and, if so, what are their scope and limitations...the timing of the book, at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe, could not be better...it brings the question of majority rights to the top of the European political agenda." - Shlomo Avineri, Haaretz

"After innumerous theories of minority rights, we finally have a theory of majority rights. The notion may appear paradoxical, but Liav Orgad makes a compelling case that the old assumption that the majority can take care of itself is no longer valid. A young star in the legal profession, Orgad navigates perilous waters with the ease of a sage. This is a book to read for all concerned about the future of liberalism." - Christian Joppke, Executive Director Chair in General Sociology, University of Bern

"Liav Orgad is perhaps the leading young scholar today analyzing the clash between the cultural claims of immigrants and the cultural defensiveness of the receiving societies. In a highly nuanced, empirically-informed, and normatively-scrupulous analysis, Orgad not only highlights one of the major crises facing liberal societies today (and tomorrow), but offers specific and persuasive solutions that, paradoxically, can protect liberal nation-states from some of their increasingly illiberal cultural defenses. This book is destined to be a classic in its field." - Peter H. Schuck, Simeon E. Baldwin Professor Emeritus of Law, Yale University

"Minority rights have commonly been promoted by liberals and leftists, majority rights by people on the political right. Liav Orgad challenges this too-simple polarity. He has written a resolutely liberal account, carefully and elegantly argued, of what majorities can and cannot do to defend their culture and way of life." - Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

The Cultural Defense of Nations

A Liberal Theory of Majority Rights

Liav Orgad

From Our Blog

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